


Monster

by scurvaliciousbay



Series: Inquisitor!Kass and Companion!Mel [7]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Magic, Other, Tumblr Prompt, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 11:05:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16911753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scurvaliciousbay/pseuds/scurvaliciousbay
Summary: Tumblr prompt for the word "monster." Ash's magic is fire based and very primal and it scares the Circle mages.





	Monster

**Author's Note:**

> Aili belongs to Little_Lotte
> 
> Melarue belongs to circadian_rythm

In the years between knowing she is a mage and joining the Inquisition, Ashokara learned her magic primarily through books. Mama would work and sometimes bring them home for Ash to read, parsing out what little information she could from them. Many of the books were too difficult for her to read, and the concepts were foreign to both her and Mama.

When they joined the Inquisition, Ash was suddenly surrounded by mages from all over. There is Lady Vivienne, who is very beautiful and graceful and so powerful. She’s from the Circle, the place Mama had kept Ash from for two years. There’s Solas, who’s an apostate, like her. But he largely seems uninterested in teaching her much of anything. He just sighs a lot and says it’s a shame she doesn’t feel spirits or something.

Well maybe if he just  _taught_ her.

Then there’s Dorian Pavus. He’s from Tevinter, which seems really cool except Mama forbids Ash from learning from him.

Aili is the nicest, Ash thinks. And she understands the fire, how to work with it. She doesn’t use fancy titles or names and doesn’t make her feel stupid for not knowing things already.

But when they get to Skyhold, Aili gets busier with grownup things. There are a bunch of other Circle mages with them now, and they are happy to teach her. They ask her what magic she is proficient in, and she tells them fire.

“Only fire?” One of the enchanters ask.

“Sometimes I can make things float if I concentrate really hard….” She goes on. The enchanter purses her lips and Ash hears a girl whisper behind her to a friend.

“What kind of monster only knows how to  _burn_ things?”

Ash swallows and shuffles her feet.

“We will see about improving other skills. Fire has its uses, but we focus on…kinder teachings at the Circle.”

She spends the day learning how to make a barrier that isn’t just a flaming bubble.

“I want to stop people from getting close, right?” She asks, then points, “this stops people from getting close.”

“It will  _kill_ them!”

“Well, they either respect my boundary or they die, seems effective to me.”

“That is…monstrous! We do not condone killing in the Circle!” The enchanter gasps.

“But what do you do when someone tries to kill you?”

“You are  _eight_ , such questions are for adults who are fighting –

“I’ve already fought!” She argues and they frown at her.

“Now, Ashokara.”

“I don’t get it! Why shouldn’t you kill someone who is going to kill you?” She demands. It is a perfectly rational thing to ask, in her opinion, but the enchanters frown at her, and the other apprentices whisper.

“Told you, a monster," one of the Circle kids whispers behind her. Her skin heats in embarrassment. 

She whips around and narrows her eyes at them, “I’m not a monster!”

“You want to burn people alive!” Another kid accuses like she's a demon or something.

“I want to live! If they didn’t attack me they wouldn’t die!” She yells back, then storms out of the room and down the stairs. The enchanters call for her to come back but she ignores them. Smoke puffs out of her nose with each breath and while she knows it just means she’s worked out, she doesn’t need to give the other apprentices more reasons to call her a monster.

Because she’s not one.

She heads to one of the gardens in the back, one that most don’t visit because it’s small and close to a cliff. But it’s really pretty and she goes there whenever she wants to be alone. But Melarue and Cole are there.

Ash sighs and keeps the edge of the garden, not at the cliff’s edge. She sits down on a bench and works on her breathing. She feels hot and needs to regulate her temperature, otherwise she’ll end up casting when she doesn’t want to.

Deep breaths.

“Laughing, hurting – I don’t think you’re a monster,” Cole says, suddenly next to her. She looks up at him then back down.

“I don’t want to hurt people,” she whispers. The bench shifts as Melarue sits next to her.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” They ask gently. She shrugs.

“It’s stupid.”

“If it makes you feel this way, it isn’t stupid,” they say. She lets out a breath, smoke rises from her again and she flinches away from it.

“A girl said that because I can only make fire I’m a monster,” she says quietly, staring down at the soft gross. Melarue shifts next to her so that they’re kneeling before her, looking up at her.

“What has your fire done? You kept you and your mama warm with it, right? When you were traveling through Orlais?” They ask and she nods.

“What about food, did you help cook food for you and your mama and once even some travelers even though they could have reported you to the Templars?”

She nods again.

“Does helping people sound like the work of a monster?” They ask and she shakes her head. They lean up and kiss her forehead.

“You are strong, and that frightens them, people have been calling those who frighten them monsters for a very long time. Say it after me, ‘I am not a monster.’”

“I am not a monster,” she repeats and they smile.

“Good. Now who is the enchanter who was responsible for teaching you today?”

She tells them and they nod before pulling her into a hug.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
